On December 6, DSET hosted the “2025 Taiwan–Japan–Korea Trilateral Technology Dialogue,” bringing together experts and stakeholders from government, industry, and academia to discuss semiconductors, AI, energy security, and drones.
The national security session featured Alex Tsai, Vice President of Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC); Kakuya Iwata, Executive Director at the Japan UAS Industrial Development Association (JUIDA); Hyon Lim, Founder and CEO of the Korean drone company UVify; and was moderated by Cathy Fang, Policy Analyst of the National Security Team at DSET.
DSET’s Cathy Fang: Cooperate through Technology Collaboration, Co-Production, and Certification Architecture to Conquer Shared Challenges
DSET Policy Analyst Cathy Fang stated that since the center published its Taiwan–U.S. UAV cooperation report “Drones for Democracy: U.S.-Taiwan Cooperation in Building a Resilient and China-Free UAV Supply Chain” in June, Taiwan’s drone industry has made notable progress across four key areas: government procurement, export performance, certification, and international collaboration. Government procurement has expanded by a factor of 28 compared to last year, and exports from January to October have increased fourteenfold compared to the whole of last year. However, she emphasized that critical challenges remain—including technological self-sufficiency in the “Three Chips and Two Software,” reliance on China for motor and battery materials, and uncertainty over whether domestic production capacity can support the government’s near-100,000-unit procurement target.
Fang noted that UAV cooperation between Taiwan and Japan, as well as between Taiwan and South Korea, currently remains limited to very small volumes of bilateral trade. Although Taiwan and Japan have signed several memoranda of understanding in recent years, the two sides still lack access to each other’s government procurement systems and have not established interoperable testing or certification mechanisms. Taiwan and South Korea face a shared security challenge from China’s and North Korea’s rapidly advancing drone capabilities, yet bilateral technical and industrial cooperation remains minimal.
She recommended that trilateral UAV cooperation among Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea be elevated to a regional priority. The three economies are geographically proximate and highly complementary across the supply chain, each possessing distinct strengths in mass production, automation, and advanced technological R&D. Deepening cooperation—through technical collaboration, joint production models, standards alignment, and mutual recognition mechanisms—would help build a more resilient and reliable democratic UAV supply chain.
AIDC Vice President Alex Tsai: Trilateral Partnership to Expand Global Market Opportunities
AIDC Vice President Dr. Alex Tsai provided an update on the Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance (TEDIBOA), which AIDC leads. Working with seven co-chairs, the alliance’s mission is to build overseas business-to-business (B2B) partnerships.
The alliance brings together more than 260 companies, supported by Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) technical assistance, and can already produce multiple drone types, including multi-rotor and fixed-wing platforms. Members are organized across three capability tiers: platform providers (17%), module suppliers (32%), and component/material makers (51%). Dr. Tsai noted Taiwan has made export progress in smaller “Group 1” drones—helped by strong demand in Eastern Europe—but stressed the industry must diversify beyond Group 1 formats and move past OEM-only (original equipment manufacturer only) models to stay competitive after wartime demand shifts.
He identified priorities for the next phase: scaling domestic production, advancing autonomous navigation R&D, and developing globally competitive brands. He also raised the need to find alternative solutions for the magnet inside drone motors which rely on bottlenecked critical minerals. These steps, he argued, could enable Taiwan to meet domestic demand of roughly 50,000 to 100,000 drones over the next two years. Beyond this, Dr. Tsai also noted that a Taiwan-Japan-Korea trilateral relationship would facilitate the creation of a non-red supply chain, the sharing of major markets and creativity, and allow the trilateral manufactures to reach the global markets.
JUIDA Executive Director Kakuya Iwata: A Nation’s Defense and Resilience Is Driven by Drones Procured
Director Iwata, speaking on behalf of Japan UAS Industrial Development Association (JUIDA), explained the organization’s main activities to enhance Japan’s drone industry which consists of training, certification, testing, R&D, and international events. Director Iwata then laid out Japan’s roadmap for the industrial revolution of its drone sector.
Established in 2014, JUIDA’s business has increased year by year. It has relations with 48 organizations from 28 different countries—including South Korea and Taiwan—and with Japan’s own self-defense force. This expansion and growing coordination emphasizes Japan’s strengths in automation equipment, propulsion systems, and drone software. In particular, Japan’s industrial production of drone engines is a successful result of their research and development—which determined the type of light metal that would increase thrust power.
Director Iwatata also highlighted that the automatic fabrication machinery and assembly of drones is crucial in supporting the mass production of drones. As he concludes, the greater amount of drones a nation can procure, the greater force they have in defense and resilience.
UVify Founder & CEO Hyon Lim: Trilateral Strengths—Taiwan Components, Japan Optics & Sensors, Korea Deployment
Lim noted that while Korea currently holds advantages in production scale, Taiwan has numerous hidden champions in the supply chain. He also emphasized the geographic proximity of the three economies as a major asset for deeper supply chain integration.
Lim first outlined how the company’s roots in consumer racing drones (developed from 2017) have evolved into defense-relevant capabilities through experiments with the Korean military and ongoing work on autonomy. He highlighted the growing importance of operating in contested environments, citing UVify’s GNSS-denied indoor navigation and anti-jamming approach that relies on computer-vision solutions rather than GPS.
Lim also pointed to Taiwan’s “hidden champions” in critical drone subsystems—especially compact chips and radio-frequency components used for video transmission—arguing these suppliers are essential even if they do not market themselves as drone firms. However, he noted that producing complete drones at scale requires strong systems integration and a mature after-sales ecosystem, including training, maintenance and repair (MRO), spare parts, manuals, and certification—areas where Taiwan has less experience.
Drawing on UVify’s operational record supplying drones across 25 countries, he suggested closer Korea–Taiwan–Japan collaboration—combining Korea’s deployment experience, Taiwan’s key components, and Japan’s strength in optics and sensors—could enable reliable, high-quality drones in larger volumes at relatively low cost.
